Transcript What is culture?

Today’s Warm Up
• Which country do you think is most
culturally diverse?
• Which do you think is least diverse?
WHY?
North Korea vs. America
Culture
What is culture and how can it
change over time?
Culture Is:
1. All the features of a
society’s way of life.
Brainstorm…
Culture Is:
2. Learned and passed down
from generation to
generation.
Think: Santa Claus
Culture Is:
3. Includes all of a society’s
shared values, beliefs,
institutions, and
technologies.
Think: US Flag, Freedom of
Speech
Culture:
4. Gives roles to individuals
and establishes
relationships within groups
in a society.
Think: School relationships
Cultural Traits
• Activities and behaviors that
people repeatedly practice.
• They can vary
Think: eating
US: fork, knife, spoon
China: chopsticks
Malaysia: fingers/hands
Culture Traits, cont.
• Change through time
Think: clothing styles in the
USA from colonial period to
today
How do cultures change?
• Assimilation
• Innovation
• Diffusion
• Acculturation
Assimilation
1. When one culture group adapts
to the attitudes, belief systems
and ways of life of another
culture. Usually, a weaker
culture is absorbed by a more
dominant culture
Think: Native Americans
Innovation
2. New ideas that are
accepted into a culture.
Think: Horse v. cars, etc.
Diffusion
3. The spreading of culture; an
innovation or cultural trait of
one place is adopted by
another culture. The spread
can be gradual.
Think: Hip Hop or Rap Music
Think…
• What causes cultural diffusion?
• Does cultural diffusion threaten
cultural diversity?
Music Clips
Acculturation
4. When one culture changes a
great deal through its meeting
with another culture. Usually a
two-way process in which each
culture changes the other.
Think: USA fast food and the
growth of ethnic foods.